This invention relates to a trip valve for use in rapidly terminating the flow of motivating fluid to the rotor of a turbomachine.
Turbomachines, such as steam driven turbines, almost universally employ a trip valve for rapidly terminating the flow of motivating fluid to the turbomachine. It is desirable that the trip valve be capable of almost instantaneous closing under certain circumstances, such as turbine overspeed conditions, to prevent damage to the turbomachine or the equipment being driven thereby.
Very often the trip valves of the prior art have been relatively expensive to manufacture and have not always functioned as required in instantaneously terminating the flow of the motivating fluid. For example, many of such prior art trip devices have included relatively complex mechanical arrangements such as linkages or similar apparatus. The instantaneous closing of the trip valves have not always been accomplished due to the frictional forces generated within the mechanical arrangements which had to be overriden before the valve could actually be closed.